Is it just friendship or something else?
by TheGardener2009
Summary: Hermione changes and boys drool at the sight especially one man in particular.But what happens when she finds a crying Remus on her shoulder on her birthday?alright, its romance again, but with HPGW, RWLL and RLHG. bit messy with the couples but read!enjo
1. Lupin's Return

Chapter 1 Lupin's Return 

Hermione Granger took one last look at her parents before running into Platform 9 ¾.

"Damn. I'd better get my luggage on!" she said quickly to herself looking at the clock. It was already five to eleven. She quickly rushed to where the other luggage was and added hers to the pile.

Unfortunately, being in such a rush, Hermione accidentally bumped into someone familiar. He had brown hair with hints of grey in it, amber eyes and a very sexy figure. He noticed her too. She had gorgeous, chocolate brown eyes, brown hair which had gone down from being bushy, to being quite sleek and slender, with some waves and natural highlights in. She also had an amazing figure and her body showed where her curves had grown into place, so much that many male students were drooling at the magnificent sight.

They stood there staring at each other for a moment when Hermione flung her arms around her former DADA professor.

"Professor Lupin! Its so good to see you!" she exclaimed after letting him go.

"Its great to see you to Hermione. How are you? Did you have a good summer?" Remus Lupin replied with a warm smile.

"Yes thank you. I'm fine and what about you prof…" she broke off awkwardly as his smile vanished and was replaced with a sad look at the mention of his summer. She clapped her hand over her mouth, looking horrified at what she had just said.

"I'm so sorry Remus! I have to go!"

Before Remus even had a chance to answer back, she had already disappeared into the train.

(Why can't I keep my big mouth shut once in a while?) She thought angrily to herself. She sat down in the nearest compartment. She was in deep thought before she was interrupted by three familiar faces.

"Hey Mione." said Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley.

"Hiya Mione." Ron Weasley smiled.

"Hey guys! How are you? Did you have a good summer?" she asked, hoping to get a better answer than she did with Remus.

"It was alright. Not much happened because of the war so I can't really say whether it was good or not." Harry replied.

"Same here." Ron and Ginny said in unison.

Hermione on the other hand went into deep conversation on how she thought that Remus Lupin was going to take the part of DADA again. At this change of subject, Harry, Ginny and Ron joined in the conversation as well. Halfway through the journey they saw someone knock on the door.

It was Remus.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked politely, trying to avoid the gaze coming from Hermione's gorgeous, chocolate brown eyes.

"Sure." She said moving up one and repeating to herself in her head that she was not going to blush. She decided that to keep Remus off her mind she would read Hogwarts: A History instead.

"So Lupin, are you coming back to take the post of DADA teacher again?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Yes, I am Harry. I must say I'm especially looking forward to teaching you this year."

He carefully glanced at Hermione, who was still paying no attention to the conversation.

(Why does he look at me like that? Its not like he likes me, is it?) She thought.

Hermione Granger had a small crush on Lupin ever since the first day she met him as her DADA professor in third year and instead of going away, it gradually grew bigger through the last few years. She smiled back to him and returned to her book. Harry, however, saw this and got annoyed but brushed it off thinking that it was a normal everyday smile that she would give to anyone, so he returned to his conversation with Ginny and Ron about Quidditch.

"So Hermione, are you looking forward to your final year at Hogwarts?" Remus asked politely.

"I suppose so, but once I've left, I'm hoping to come back and teach. I've always thought of either teaching or being an apprentice. It seems right up my alley for me" she replied smiling.

Before Remus could reply back, the train stopped so abruptly that everyone fell on the floor with a crash and Hermione's book went flying into the corridor, but Hermione didn't see this.

"We'd, first, best get up off the floor and second get off this train before we find out where it goes after Hogwarts." Remus said laughing.

Everyone scrambled out while Hermione panicked, not being able to find her book. Lupin found it while he was rummaging for his wand and carefully picked it up and went back to the compartment where Hermione was still looking for it. He came up behind her and tapped her carefully on the back.

"Here you are. It was in the corridor so I rescued it before it got trampled on." Lupin said, handing her book to her.

"Oh, thank you so much Remus!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're such a good friend to me. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you around." She joked.

"I'm sure you would manage fine with or without me. I'm not really that greater loss." He replied, as they got out of the train.

"Don't ever say that Remus!" Hermione said shocked. "Lots of people care for you, Harry sees you as a second father to him, Ron sees you as another best friend and I see you more than both of them. I really care for you Remus and you mean a lot to me, just so you know. Oh, and…um, thank you for finding my book." She said in a shy voice.

With that, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before rushing into the crowds to find the others. Remus followed but going along with the teachers, in deep thought and shock of what had just happened. He sat down at the teachers table waiting for Dumbledore to make his famous 'start of term' speech. Although, he was completely unaware of the pair of eyes that were following his every move.

"Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before we consume our delicious meal, may I please introduce an old friend who has returned for the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Professor Lupin!" Dumbledore said clapping along with the other students.

As Remus stood up he could see that the Gryffindor table were full of excitement at having their former teacher back with them. he also noticed how Hermione was constantly clapping and whistling for him along with her fellow class mates.

'_She must still have that crush on me that she had in her third year. Oh well, I suppose its alright to have a small crush on a student. No! You're not going to let yourself have a crush!_' he thought angrily before sitting back down next to Severus Snape, the greasy Potions Master. Dumbledore held up his hand and the Hall gradually fell silent.

"Two words. Tuck in."

With that, everyone began to eat as much as they could, all except one person, Hermione. For some reason she didn't feel like eating, instead she just watched her friends eat while she just drank her goblet of pumpkin juice. At the end of the feast, the Headmaster declared that it was time for bed. At this, everyone got up at once and scrambled to their dormitories in desperate need of some rest.


	2. Birthday's and pink robes

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Hermione's Birthday**_

The next day, Remus woke up especially early only to find that it was one of the most important dates of year. Hermione's birthday. He scrambled out of bed and had a quick shower before making his way down to the Great Hall. Meanwhile, someone else had also woken up early, only to find that someone was guilty of prodding her into oblivion.

"Hermione, you lazy git. Get up!" Ginny said, now extremely tired of prodding her for hours on end.

"Ginny its 5:30! What is it?" she asked angrily. She really wanted to get back to sleep.

"Have you forgotten the most important date on the calendar?"

"Its most likely. What date is it then smart arse?"

"Its your birthday today you nitwit! I have a present for you."

"Oh my gosh! I'm eighteen already? Blimey I'm old!" Hermione said laughing in a tired voice.

After having a shower and getting ready for the first day of school, she sat back down next to Ginny who was waiting impatiently, saying that she had woken up specially for her and wanted to get a little bit more sleep in before breakfast.

"Finally. Right now I can give you your present." Ginny said in a tired voice.

"You got me a present! You didn't have to Gin. You're just the best of the best."

"Yeah, well, I don't like to brag but yeah I know the facts thanks. So open it already!"

She handed Hermione her gift and watched her as she carefully unwrapped it. She clapped her hand over her mouth and started crying with happiness.

"Oh Ginny. Its beautiful, thank you!" she exclaimed.

It was a photo of Ron, Ginny, the twins, Harry, Molly, Arthur, her and Remus in a decorated photo frame with red sapphires in the corners.

"It was nothing. I thought I should get you something special that you could keep."

"Its lovely. Those sapphires must have been expensive."

"That's my secret," Ginny said tapping her nose. "Anyway, Harry and Ron are waiting downstairs for you."

Hermione nodded and followed her down to the common room.

"Surprise, surprise!" Harry and Ron said in unison.

"Happy birthday Hermione!" Ron said handing her his present along with Harry's. She opened them and smiled with a twinkle in her eyes. Harry had given a huge badge saying 'HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY!' and a second edition of Hogwarts: A History. Ron had given her a necklace with a blue sapphire in the middle and a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.

"Thanks so much you guys!" she said happily.

"Don't mention it. We're going back to bed, if that's ok because its only 6:30 and we're tired, so we'll see you later, ok Hermione?" Harry said yawning.

"Yeah that's fine. Do I have to wear this all day Harry?" she said pointing at the giant badge.

"Yes because otherwise at the end of the day it will jinx you with a powerful spell, but I don't know what one."

"Did you purchase this off of Fred and George by any chance, Harry?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, I did actually. You don't mind do you?"

"Nope, that's great. Well, I'll see you all later then. Bye."

She waved one last time before exiting the portrait hole and making her way down to the Great Hall. As the sun rose through the trees, her hair became more natural and it fell out and just trailed along behind her as she walked. She entered the Great Hall, not even noticing that Professor Lupin was there and grabbed a piece of toast and headed out of the Hall.

"Good morning, Hermione." Lupin said cheerily.

She turned around and gazed into his gorgeous, amber eyes before returning a smile and muttering a small hello. She carried on walking out of the Hall and decided that she would go and sit under her favourite tree and watch the sun come up over the hills and trees.

"I wish this day could last forever. It's a pity it can't but nothing does last forever, except for some things." She said to herself quietly, thinking of someone in particular while saying this.

She rolled onto her back and gazed at the picture Ginny had given her as a present. She sat there on the bright green grass for another twenty minutes before realising that everyone would be up by now, so she got up and gracefully made her way into the Great Hall. As she entered, she saw that Harry, Ginny and Ron were only the 'starters' of their main meal of the day. She made her towards them, while waving and smiling at people she knew and people who had wished her a happy birthday.

"Hey guys how are you?" she asked politely.

The only reply she got was a load of grumbles and snorts from her fellow class mates. At this response, she decided that it was best not to talk to them until they were fully awake. She walked back outside and stared at the wonderful sun rising above the hills. She walked along by the lake for a while, until she realised the time and headed to her least favourite lesson, Potions. Not only was her Potions master a git but he seemed to pick on her the most, which got rather annoying for Hermione. So she decided that she wasn't going to take any crap from that idiot today, even if it meant getting detention on her birthday.

"Why are we all standing in the corridor like first years? You know how to open a classroom door so do it!" a familiar voice drawled behind her.

She followed her Potions professor into the classroom with many scared students trailing along behind her, sitting in their various seats. As Snape started the lesson, Hermione was brewing up an evil idea that was bound to embarrass poor, old Snape for the rest of his life.

"You may begin, in silence. You know where to get the ingredients. Well, move before you waste anymore time. GO!"

With that everyone in the room hurried over to the student cupboard, everyone except Hermione. Unfortunately for her, Snape noticed this and strode over to where she was placed.

"Miss Granger, are you going to work at all or just sit there doing nothing?" he asked in his usual sarcastic tone.

"Yes sir. I will get to work on the potion immediately."

He slowly turned and walked away but as he did, Hermione pointed her wand at his black robes and muttered 'colourious'. She smiled mischievously and got to work on her potion. At the end of class, Snape ordered them to do two rolls of parchment of the uses of Veritisum and why it is considered a drug.

"Class dismissed."

Everyone filtered out of the classroom while Hermione looked at Snape's robes silently laughing. Her plan was working; his robes were turning bright pink with flowers and hearts. She quickly hurried out of the dungeons and down to the Great Hall to have lunch. As she walked through the corridors, a certain person was in her thoughts.

_He is rather handsome, NO! What am I thinking? I can't fancy my Professor-but he is single, NO! Bad thoughts, bad Hermione! Bad-_

Her thoughts ended when she collided with a solid object in front of her. She fell back waiting to hit her head on the floor and be taken to the hospital wing, when a pair of muscular arms came out of nowhere and caught her. She looked into the eyes of her savoir and gasped when she realised it was…

"Remus. Thank you." She said blushing at the situation they were in.

"No problem. My fault anyway, I was deep into my thoughts. Thinking about Sir…"he broke off awkwardly looking at the floor sadly.

_What am I supposed to do? He's so unhappy and I'm just standing here doing nothing about it._ Hermione thought sadly.

"Again I'm sorry Hermione, for knocking you over. Good day and have a happy birthday." He started to walk away when someone caught his arm. He turned around to find Hermione clutching his arm. Suddenly, she flung her arms around him and tightly hugged him. Then she whispered in his ear,

"Whatever you think about Sirius and anyone else, you have to realise that it was never your fault and that you'll always have a friend close by to comfort you."

She reluctantly let go of him and walked away to the Great Hall. She sat down beside Harry and Ron and ate her lunch. A few minutes later Remus entered the hall with a head full of confusing thoughts. He sat down at the head table and started eating when Snape came in, still having not noticed that his robes were pink with flowers and hearts all over them.

"Hey, Hermione look at Snape. His robes are pink." He said trying not to laugh.

"I know Harry, I mean, after all…I was the one who turned them that colour." She replied with a twinkle in her eyes.

"You did that? Hermione you are the best."

"I know and he won't notice until someone starts laughing at him. It was another spell I placed on him." Answering Harry's confused look.

Soon enough, the whole hall erupted with roars of laughter from all the houses including Slytherin. Snape whirled around before looking down at his robes. His face turned crimson as he looked around for the suspect in embarrassment. Unfortunately, nobody was giving any impression that they were guilty.

"When I find out who did this, they will not know the meaning of evil when they see the punishment I hand out to them." He shouted but failed to stop everyone laughing. He strode out the Great Hall and down to the dungeons, still fuming.

"Hermione, you are a master of mischief in disguise." Harry said through his laughter.

"I think this is the best birthday I've ever had by far." She stated. She made a move to get up and go outside once more, when Harry stopped her.

"Where you going? We still have one more lesson don't we?" he asked confused.

"You do, I don't. I have a different timetable to you remember?" she took one more glance around the hall when she noticed that Remus wasn't at the head table anymore. In fact, she couldn't see him anywhere. She shrugged this matter off and headed down to the common room to get her swim stuff and a change of clothing. She was going swimming in the lake.


	3. Swimming in the lake with Remus

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Swimming in the lake with Remus**_

She quickly changed into her swimming stuff and threw on her robe and headed down to the lake. She knew for a fact, as it was a Friday, that after lessons everyone would just go straight to dinner and then hang out in the common rooms. She got down to the lake unaware of some else's presence. She went by her favourite tree and flung her bag and robe by it, not noticing that Remus was there. She ran to the lake and jumped in and started swimming.

"Miss Granger! Care to explain why you're not in your lessons?" Remus called out.

She spun around in the water and shrieked when she saw that he was by the tree.

"Professor! I'm so sorry; I didn't know you were here. The reason I'm not in lessons is because my timetable is different to everyone else's and I have the rest of the day off, so I thought I'd go swimming." She explained quickly blushing crimson.

"That's quite alright Hermione; I was just a bit concerned when I saw you out here. I thought you were skipping classes." He said smirking slightly.

"Remus Lupin! You know perfectly well, that I would never skip any of my classes. Its my birthday so I thought I'd just treat myself to a birthday swim."

He nodded at her and leaned back against the tree and looked at her while she did some more lengths.

_She's so beautiful and an extremely good swimmer. Her eyes are so, NO, bad Remus! Must NOT be thinking THESE thoughts about HER! Bad, bad Remus!_

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Miss Granger, would you mind if I join you in a swim? Please?" he asked hopefully. She stared at him for a few seconds before replying,

"Yes, of course. Its not against the law. Where's your swimming stuff though?" she asked.

"I'm wearing it." He stated simply.

She looked at him with a confused look. He smiled at her and waved his wand at his clothes and they became a pair of swimming trunks, a towel and a change of clothing. Hermione simply stared at him trying to take her eyes of his chest.

_Oh my god! He has a six-pack! Hermione shut up and look away! NOW!_

She saw him looking at her and she quickly looked away blushing.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"No harm done. Now, time for a swim."

He walked to the edge of the lake and jumped in. he jumped a fair distance and landed with a splash in the water, before coming up and shivering all over.

"Its freezing!" he said, teeth chattering while Hermione roared with laughter.

"I'll show you!" he tried to grab Hermione but missed.

"You're it! Come on, you're going to have to catch me sometime." She swam into the middle of the lake and stuck her tongue out at him. He slowly sank into the depths of the water and swam towards her while she splashed around. He came up behind her and grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up in the air.

"AHHHHHHHH! Remus Lupin, you put me down right now!"

"Certainly milady." He lifted her a little higher in the air, only just noticing what she was wearing. She was wearing a sky blue bikini that gave away her figure perfectly.

"No Remus not like that! Remus no, please." She begged and pouted.

"Sorry, no can do." Came the short reply and with that he dropped her in the water and swam off laughing. Hermione came up to the surface of the water and glared at the man ten meters away from her.

"You will pay for that Remus Lupin!" she screamed at him while he laughed his head off.

She raised an eyebrow at him and went underwater. Remus stopped laughing and looked around to find Hermione out of sight.

"Hermione? Where are you? HERMIONE!" he yelled.

Meanwhile, Hermione was by his feet underwater gathering up sand in her hands, smiling mischievously. She popped out of the water and looked at Remus.

_He looks so cute when he's worried about something. Bad Hermione. Must stop thinking these thoughts about him. Pity, I always thought he would make quite a good boyfriend._ But Hermione knew that the chances of that happening were probably below zero.

"Hermione, there you are! I was so worried when I couldn't find you. Don't do that again please, I was so scared." He said quickly and swam to her and hugged her tightly. She returned the embrace, wondering why he was so worried about _her_.

To her she was just the bookworm Gryffindor who studied none stop and couldn't care less about boys or romance or how worried people got over her. When Remus let go of her she realised how much his words had touched her. Suddenly, she started shivering and muttered to Remus that she was going to get out.

She swam to the shore and wrapped her towel around herself. The sun had now set beneath the trees and a crescent moon could be seen faintly in the sky. She sat back against the tree and stared up at the sky admiring its beauty, unaware that someone else was admiring her beauty. She looked around to find Remus staring at her like there was no tomorrow.

"Hello Remus? Are you home? I'm not going to carry on calling your name forever you know." She said laughing.

He shook his head and blushed a deep red before looking away.

"Yes well, anyway, I'm going to get changed so would you mind turning while I do so please." She ordered.

He would have said 'no' but just nodded and turned away. Checking that he was looking away, Hermione wrapped the towel around more tightly and uneasily put her clothes on.

"Okay, I'm done. I'll look away while you get changed as well I suppose." She said although very reluctantly. Remus noticed this reluctance in her voice and couldn't help but chuckle a bit. She turned around while Remus got changed, every part of her wanting to see what was under the towel that he was holding.

"Okay Hermione, you can turn around but I don't want you to open your eyes yet, okay?" Remus said quietly.

"Yes okay. What are you doing by the way?" she replied curiously.

"Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you."

She just nodded in return and turned around, her face bathed in the moonlight that shone upon the lake.

"Put your hands out in front of you. I do hope you're not peeking Miss Granger." He said smiling slightly.

"I can assure you that I would do no such thing." She said as she placed her hands out in front of her wondering what he was going to do. She felt a small package being laid down beneath her small palms.

"Okay, you can open now Hermione." Remus's soft voice said, making Hermione's spine shiver.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the package. She sat down, leaning against the tree and opened it. Inside the wrapping was a small, navy blue, velvet box. She opened the box and gasped; inside was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen in her entire life. The chain itself was thin and gold, holding a gold heart shaped locket. She opened the locket to find a picture of herself, Remus and Sirius all laughing together.

"Remus its gorgeous. I can't thank you enough. When was this picture taken by the way?"

"When you, Sirius and I were having a water fight in my back garden." Came the soft reply.

Hermione gazed at it for a few more seconds before putting it on her. After doing so, she heard a faint sob behind her. She twirled around and saw Remus leaning against the tree crying. Hermione had never seen him cry before and she was unsure of what to do.

"Its all my fault. Sirius and everyone else who died, is because of me." He said openly sobbing his heart out.

Hermione crawled towards him and put a hand on his shoulder making him jump slightly. He didn't dare look at her; he didn't want her thinking that he was some kind of pathetic idiot crying over something that happened in the past.

"Remus, I know what you're thinking and I would never think of you as a pathetic idiot. That's never going to happen. You just need someone to help you through this." She said sighing slightly before also leaning back against the tree and gazing up at the stars.

"I just didn't want you to see me crying openly, especially on your birthday. I've ruined your day now, I'm sorry." He said between hiccups.

"You haven't ruined my day at all Remus. All I was saying is that you need someone to help you through this. I remember when I found out that my little brother had died because of a hit and run incident. Only happened a few years ago," she sighed once more before continuing, "It was the saddest day of my life but I thought, no, I'm not going to carry on like this. I'm going to pull through this and I did. In fact it only happened before I started my third year." She stated looking over at her professor.

"I'm so sorry. I had know idea that you had a little brother." Remus said after coming away from the shocking news he had just heard.

"Its nothing special and nothing to be proud of but I am making a very valid point towards you Remus, all I am saying is don't give up all hope. You have plenty of friends around you who will help you through this and you know that I am here for whenever you need to speak to me." She finished by holding his hand in hers and squeezing tightly.

He looked into her eyes and nodded a silent 'thank you' but unfortunately he felt the tears come upon him once more. Hermione saw this and immediately reacted. She pulled him into an embrace and hugged him tightly, both of them hoping that this would never end.

After a few minutes, Remus pulled away and wiped his eyes.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I didn't mean to start crying all over you. At this point of life, I'm crying all over the place." He said croakily to her.

"Its no problem. I said that I would be here for you and here I am. Doing my job and being a good friend."

_Although, god knows how many times I've wanted it to be more than just a solid friendship._

She looked back up at him, not realising that they were drawing closer and closer each second, until their lips touched briefly. They pulled away, both blushing shades of red, not looking at each other.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do that Hermione. I guess after everything I've been through tonight I ju…" he was cut short by Hermione's lips having met his again, although more passionately than before. He returned the kiss while putting his arms around her middle and drawing her nearer to him. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and playing with his hair. After awhile, they pulled away in need of oxygen and smiled at each other.

"Hermione are you sure you're alright with this?" Remus asked gently; he didn't want to push her into doing anything she didn't want to.

"I'm sure. God knows how long I've fancied you."

"You have no idea."

They kissed again and again not wanting to end the moment. Then Hermione felt Remus tongue brush softly against her bottom lip, begging for entrance. She obliged and granted his wish, feeling his tongue explore her mouth. They sat there at the edge of the bank kissing for sometime until Remus pulled away.

"I'm sorry to end this so soon Hermione but I do believe that it is past curfew and should be escorting you back to your common room."

"Yes and thank you. You have truly made my birthday today one that I won't forget." She said smiling at him before standing on tiptoes and kissing him once again.

"You still sure aren't you?" Remus said.

"Yes, more than I've ever been in my entire life." She replied.

They gathered up their stuff and walked along the bank hand in hand towards the Gryffindor common room.

"Goodnight Remus. I love you."

"I love you too." Remus replied as Hermione kissed him once more before heading into the common room and upstairs to bed, thinking that she was going to have good dreams tonight.


End file.
